MatrixMixer ver 0.30b

English

MatrixMixer - is a DirectShow filter to upmix any stereo source to multiple speakers. Designed mainly for playback movies with stereo audio track on 5.1 audio systems. Distributed absolutely for free (FREEWARE, OpenSource). Sorry if my English is bad, but I think it is better to have something than nothing.

This project is a branch of AC3Filter project - AC3 format decoder for playback DVD and .AVI wich AC3 audio track.

Main features:

Matrix mixer with ability to change the matrix.
Conversion from any input format to any output format. Supports channel configurations from mono to 5.1 and sample formats 16bit / 24bit / 32bit / float.
Input/output levels indication.
Automatic gain control.
Dynamic range compression.
Individual gain control for each input/output channel.
Delays for each output channel.

Download
Install
Uninstall
System setup
Usage
Distribution
Contact author
Changelog
Links

Download.

New versions can be found at site:
http://matrix-mixer.sourceforge.net - home page
http://sourceforge.net/projects/matrix-mixer - Sourceforge project page - bug reports, feature requests, forum...

All versions:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/matrix-mixer

MatrixMixer ver 0.30b
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/matrix-mixer/matrix_mixer_0_30b.exe?download - installation
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/matrix-mixer/matrix_mixer_0_30b_src.zip?download - sources

Install.

Just run setup program. During installation it will create Start menu group with setup, documentation and uninstall shortcuts.

Uninstall.

Just run uninstaller from Start menu or Control Panel.

! Note that all your saved matrices will be lost !

System setup

    If installation was successful then in most cases filter is ready to work immediately and does not require any settings.

    Most compatible mode of operation is stereo mode. It should work with any Windows version and any sound card.

    Some drivers (Creative!) do not update settings in 'Control Panel->Sounds and Multimedia->Audio->Sound Playback->Advanced' after speaker configuration change in drivers. So it is necessary to check it.

    Some audio filters do not support multichannel modes (DeDynamic for example). Some players can use its own audio-processing filters (equalizers for example) that again do not support multichannel. Some filters may allow multichannel but handle it incorrectly (for example center channel may fairly disappear). All this things may prevent the filtler to load or it will be impossible to change speaker configuration.

    To prevent this things do not install filter-packs and unregister unnecessary filters!

    Some of the system settings can be adjusted from filter properties (how to call it read Usage):

* Filter merit

    After installation filter have highest priority, i.e. it will try to load for every opened file with almost any DirectShow player. But you can disable such behaviour with 'Do not load MatrixMixer'. In this case filter will persist in the system but will not try to autoload.
    This option requires relogon in W2k/XP and system restart in W98.

* Default audio renderer

    Sound card may work in two modes: DirectSound and WaveOut. If it is some problems when using filter (for example if SPDIF does not work) it is possible that mode switch may help. Some media players (BSP) have corresponding settings but most of others use system default settings. Choose 'Use DirectSound' to make DirectSound to be default interface; choose 'Use WaveOut' to make WaveOut to be default interface.
    This option requires relogon in W2k/XP and system restart in W98.

* Audio/Video sync.

    Sometimes it may happen that audio and video are not in sync. Mostly it happens because of incorrect mixing, but it may be also some hardware reasons. This option is designed to fix hardware issues. You can use it to watch movies that was incorrectly mixed but do not forget to change it back after! This option specifies time shift between audio and video. If audio is played before video you need to increase this value. If audio is played after video you need to decrease this value. Note, that this option allows to fix only constant time shift.
    This option have immediate effect. When you change it picture may freeze for several seconds to resync, it is normal.

* System options

    Allow to connect to AC3Filter - By default MatrixMixer will not try to connect to AC3Filter's output because AC3Filter already have similar functionality.

    Use WAVEFORMATEXTENSIBLE - generally for multichannel modes it is WAVEFORMATEXTENSIBLE structure used (described at http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/tech/audio/multichaud.asp). Some old drivers cannot work with it (opposite, some new drivers can work only with this structure in multichannel).

Usage.

If everything good then after install filter is ready to work.

To change filter's parameters player should allow access to filter properties (WMP 6.4, BSP, Sasami, etc. WMP9 does not!). For example in WMP 6.4 filter list can be accessed File->Properties->Advanced:

Mixer

    Main control here is mixing matrix. It is in form of matrix multiplication: S' = M S, where S = { L, C, R, SL, SR, LFE } - input sample, S' = { L', C', R', SL', SR', SW' } - output sample.

    More simple it means that next rule for each cell: we mix input channel specified by column to output channel specified by row with gain specifien in cell. So if we want to route left channel to right speaker we should set 1 in cell at cross of 'L' column and 'R' row. If we don't want to hear left channel from left speakers anymore then we set 0 at cross 'L' column and 'L' row. If we make same operation with right and surround channel then we fully swap left and right channel. (Note, that in this case we fully swap 'L' and 'R' rows).

    Row determines what we'll hear from corresponding output channel. For matrix shown above from left chanel we'll hear sum of left and right channels.

    Column determines where input channel will be mixed. For matrix shown above left channel participates in all output channels.

    When Auto matrix is enabled then matrix is automatically calculated and changed with parameters change. For example if we change Voice level we'll see factors change in 'C' column.

* Speakers.

    Input: string shows current input format. Two comboboxes below specify output speaker configuration and sample format. Channel format is shown in form front_channels/surround_channels + subwoofer presence flag (SW). For some configurations common names are given.

    'Dolby Surround/ProLogic' modes mean that that all channels presented in ac3 stream will be mixed into two channels so Dolby Surround/Pro Logic decoder can extract surround channel. 'Dolby ProLogic II' mode is similar to DPL but for DPL II decoder. DPLII support is only experimental because of lack of reliable information.

* Gains.

Master - desired gain level.
Gain - shows current gain level.
Voice - center channel gain level (dialogue channel)
Surround - surround channel(s) gain level..

Master and Gain controls are responsible for global gain level. Master sets desired gain level. If current sound level is too high and overflow occurs then real gain level will be decreased. Current gain level is shown at Gain control.

* Levels.

Levels indication before and after mixing. Note that levels here are in logarithmic scale.

* Options

Settings description:

Enable filter - allows to enable/disable the filter on the fly
Auto gain control - automatic gain control. It controls current gain to prevent overflow. Curent gain is shown at Gain level. When this option is disabled high-level signal is clipped on overflow what leads to unpleasant distortions. When this option is enabled then current gain will be decreased and overflow does not happen. System behavior after overflow is defined by One- pass norm option. If One-pass norm is disabled then current gain will be gradually restored up to Master level. In this case Master defines mean gain level. If it is many places when overflow occurs then this behavior can lead to unpleasant 'jumps' of audio level. In this case do not set Master level too high. This mode is recommended if overflow is not expected. If One-pass norm option is enabled then gain level will not be restored after overflow. So each overflow decreases probability and 'strength' of next overflow and after some time gain will be stabilized to some mean value. Usually it happens after about ~10min of film playback. In this case Master level means initial gain for one pass normalization algorithm and may be set to maximum. This mode can provide maximum loudness with minimal artifacts.
One-pass norm - one pass normalizaion. See Auto gain control.
Auto matrix - automatic calculation of mixer matrix. When this option is enabled matrix editing direct is disabled. Gain levels for LFE, Voice and Surround are parameters for matrix calculation. When this option is disabled next controls loose influence: gain levels for LFE, Voice and Surround,Normalize matrix, Expand stereo, Voice control, Expand stereo. Following controls are remain to work: Master, Gain,DRC level, DRC power, One-pass norm. Direct matrix edit is enabled.
Normalize marix - matrix normalization. When this option is enabled matrix is normalized so it is no overflow at output (sum of channels at output < 1). But when gain level LFE, Voice or Surround changes other gain level will be also changed (for example if we increase level of LFE all other channels level will be decreased). If this option is disabled it allows to avoid this effect. But overflow is possible in this case. So it is better to decrease Master gain when this option is disabled.
Expand stereo - works only if it is no surround channels in AC3 stream. In this case it allows to amplify surround information with Surround gain control (that have no effect by default if it is not surround channels at input). If it is surround channels specified at output configuration then this option make it work in this modes. Techincally it controls out-of-phase audio components (channel differences) and routes it to surround channels if they are exists.
Voice control - works only if it is no center channel in AC3 stream. In this case it allows to control center with Voice gain control (that have no effect by default in absence of center channel at input). If it is center speaker specified at output configuration then this option make it work in this modes. With Expand stereo option allows full stereo to multichannel upmix. I.e. make center and surround speakers to work even if input is just stereo. Techincally it just controls in-phase audio components (equal in both channels) and routes it to center speaker if it is exists.

Combo-box Matrix preset allows to save and load saved matrices.

Gains

On this page you can set input/output channel gains, channel delays and dynamic range compression.

* Input gains/Output gains

Allows to change gain level for each input/output channel. It is current level indication on the left of each gain control. Red indicator means that it is overflow happen on this channel.

* Delays

Delays can be used for following:

Compensate different distance to speakers. Ideally all speakers should be at equal distance to listener so sound emitted simultaneously from all speakers reach listener at the same time. Otherwise sound picture will be distorted. But in practice distance to speakers may be different. To compensate this difference sound from certain speakers should be delayed. You may choose 'meters' at Units combobox to directly specify distance to speakers.
Prevent signal cancellation. Since rear channels may reproduce the negative comonents from front channels front and rear signals may be cancelled.
Create Haas effect.

* Dynamic range conpression (DRC)

Sometines film may contain very loud and very quiet sounds. And it is needed to adjust volume to hear quiet sounds and damp down loud sounds. To avoid this annoying procedure dynamic range compression should be used. Left control sets desired amplification in dB. This value means level increase at -50dB. So if it is very quiet sound with -50dB level it will be increased by 10dB and reproduced with -40dB level. Similarly, -25dB signal will be increased by 5dB and reproduced with -20dB level. 0dB signal will not be increased at all.

Distribution.

    This program distributed under GNU General Public Licence v2, placed in GNU_eng.txt at english language and GNU_rus.txt at russian language. Russain language version is only for information purpose only and english version have priority with all variant reading.

    This application may solely be used for demonstration and educational purposes. Any other use may be prohibited by law in some coutries. The author has no liability regarding this application whatsoever. This application may be distributed freely unless prohibited by law.

    This product distributed in hope it may be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose and compliance with any standarts. I do not guarantee 24-hour (and any) support, bug correction, repair of lost data, I am not responsible for broken hardware and lost working time. I am not responsible for legality of reproducted with this program multimedia production.

Contact author.

With all questions about this program please, email to this address:

with subject MatrixMixer. This subject is used during email sorting, so mail without it may be lost! Please, respond about all errors in porgram with following information:

Problem description
Windows version
Sound card
Player used and its version
Registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MatrixMixer
Speaker configuration used (stereo, quadro, 5.1...).
If you know what Graphedit is, then also screenshot (or just description) of graph caused problem.

This will help me a much in bug fixing.

Changelog.

0.30b - 07.10.2003 * Filter is almost totally rewritten + Auto gain control + Dynamic range compression + Individual delays for each channel + Individual gains for ech input and output channel + Support for 16/24/32/float sample formats at input and output + Support for multichannel input and output + Support for dynamic format change at input and output + Vortex support + Time shifting ! Loading several copies of filter bug fixed ! Crash on matrix change fixed 0.21a - 02.04.2003 + Enable/disable filter checkbox ! Settings was not saved preperly. ! Fixed video stuttering 0.2a - 01.04.2003 + Support for dynamic format change + Support multichannel formats at input + Output levels can indicate overflow ! Crash with some decoders 0.1a - first working alfa

Useful links

AC3Filter site (rus+eng): (http://ac3filter.sourceforge.net)
AC3Filter site (rus+eng): (http://xvalex.hotbox.ru/programs/ac3filter)

Multichannel audio reproduction at Windows (eng): (http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/tech/audio/multichaudP.asp).
Just best video-related site (eng): (http://www.doom9.org).

Last updated 07.10.2003